SCA: A Klappenrock for Ivar Hersir

My good friend Ivar was given a piece of gorgeous wool several years ago that he’d always wanted to have made into a coat, so I volunteered my services. He and I sat down at the last event and took some measurements and discussed styles, and he basically gave me free rein to “do what I do,” hehe. 

It’s lovely fabric, a medium-weight wool of about 4y.  It looks dark gray from a distance, but up close it’s made up of black, light gray, and dark blue threads in a herringbone twill striped pattern, with a thin stripe of brown every few inches. 

I made it into a klappenrock - the tunic-length coat with an angled front that wraps over in the front, for male Vikings. I don't know a whole lot about the archeology behind this style; it’s described by Inga Hagg from her studies on the finds at Hedeby (10-11th century).  I've seen the klappenrock in the SCA, although not often, and usually made out of linen. 

The pattern I drew up was pretty simple - it basically looks like the drawing above. Nothing fancy, no gores or gussets, just angled front and back pieces. I didn't have an Ivar available for fittings, as he lives two hours away from me, but I had him bring me the fabric as well as a tunic of his that he liked and which fit him well, and used that as a jumping-off point for sizing and shaping the coat.  I did take measurements of him as well, when he delivered the fabric to me at the Bjornsborg fall event a couple of weeks ago.  

Sewing this coat was also very simple.  I did the seams on the machine to save myself some time, and then hand-finished all the seam allowances for a period look.  I couched a length of brown wool yarn along the seam allowances edges with a herringbone stitch to help protect them from fraying: 

I used a herringbone stitch in black thread for all the seam allowances and for all the hemming on the open edges. 

Very often you see these coats with a contrast guarding around the edges, and I didn't do that (I had no extra fabric with which to make one), but I did finish the front edges and sleeve cuffs with a band of tablet-woven trim which I made.  

The pattern for the woven trim is  Ladoga 2b, which is a Rus design from Staraya Ladoga barrow in Russia; in blue and white with a red and black border.  I made about 3.3 yards to go around the neckline and front opening, and another yard or so for the sleeve cuffs. 

And that's it.  This was a great "quick" project (the coat itself took about five hours to make, and the woven trim took me about a week or so weaving in my spare time).   His excellency absolutely loves it.  Success! 

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It's going to be a while before I post again.  We just finished up Bordermarch's event War of the Rams, and so events are over until February, for me - but I have a LOT to do over the winter, both for the SCA and with projects around the house. 

I'm working on a new outfit for A&S in the spring, a new hood, and a LOT of tablet weaving - including building two new looms.  I'll try to post about the stuff I'm making as I go along.  

SCA: Events: Bjornsborg Fall Faire

I haven't had a lot of luck with events this fall at all.  First of all, it was still in the 90s here until like a week ago, so I really didn't want to be outside all that much.  One of the events I was going to go to in September was canceled at the last minute; another one at the beginning of October I managed to go to, but I couldn't camp, and it was so hot and so much walking around a very BIG and extremely dusty event site, and between the heat and my allergies I didn't stay long.  

Last weekend, however, was the Barony of Bjornsborg's Fall Faire, which I wouldn't have missed for the world.  The weather has finally cooled off, and Bjornsborg really knows how to put on an awesome event.  There were classes, competitions (no A&S, sadly), games, a couple of great bardic circles, a tavern with food and drink for lunch, and a feast on Saturday evening.  Court that night was long, but hilarious; and it rained like crazy and even hailed a bit during the first half of court, which made it kind of hard to hear what was going on at the front, but it was still a great court. 

                                 Me and Hersir Ivar 🫶

I also got to try out my new campsite this event, which was kind of exciting for me.  I got a new tent which is bigger than my old one, and sets up "instantly" (seriously, it takes me like 5 minutes to put it up all by myself, and I LOVE that!) I also got a new air bed which is wider than the twin sized one I was using before (that I kept falling out of!), and a new rocking camp chair which is SUPER comfortable.  

                        Big tent! 

This tent is big enough that I can bring my rolling garment rack for War of the Rams next month, too.  It's a five-day event, and it's going to be COLD and there are tons of parties and other activities which may or may not require costume changes - and it's SO nice at WotR to be able to just hang up all my clothes instead of rooting through a plastic tote bin for them like I do at short events, especially for when I need to duck into my tent quickly in the evenings to grab a coat or other outerwear.  

 

For my next trick, I'm going to be making a Norse klappenrock, (a short coat with a wrap-over front) for Master Ivar, complete with tablet-woven trim.  He brought the fabric to me at the event, and we sat down and took some measurements and talked about styles and colors; and I'm going to be working on this between now and WotR.  I'll show you when I'm done.